Rand's bonds:

- Alanna bonded Rand

- Elayne bonded Birgitte

- Avi and Elayne adopted eachother as first sisters (thanks Amys)

- Elayne/Avi created an Aiel sort of bond (the same kind Amys did for her and Avi) between Rand/Avi/Elayne/Min).

 

So Min didn't "bond" Rand no more than Rand "bonded" Min. Elayne and Avi together created the weave that included all 4 of them. It's not "the other way around", it's a real four-some bond going all direction.¹ All four feel the three others. With a bit of Birgitte and Alanna in the mix.

¹ I may be wrong, but I was under impression that Elayne, Min, and Avi all are bonded to Rand, but only Elayne/Avi have any kind of bond between the girls and even they don't have a full warder bond, more like a vague analogue of it. In fact, I'm quite certain that no bond exists between Min and either of the other two girls. Elayne/Avi didn't first-sister bond Min, they only used a weave "similar" to that weave in order to include Min in the warder bonding process so she too could be bonded to Rand. That's why you never read anywhere in the books of Min thinking/wondering/knowing about where Elayne/Avi are or vice versa, whereas they all mention Rand and his whereabouts/direction many a time.

This might fall more under "ask a stupid question", but...

 

In TSR, when Rand takes Mat and Egwene and everybody else east, they all use Portal Stones, right? I remember thinking there would eventually have to be a part where they return from the alternate reality and come back to the "real" one, like in TGH. But it doesn't happen. I guess are we supposed to just assume they went into an alternate reality and came immediately back into the same current world? Or did I miss something? My best guess is just that RJ at that point didn't feel the need to describe Portal Stones any further, but this always threw me off.

The Portal Stones can take you from this reality to another reality or from this location to another location in the same reality(where another PS stands) depending on which half of the stone, bottom or top, that you use. What Rand did with the group is location change, what he did chasing Fain was reality change.

when Rand taps the True Power while trapped with the male a'dam by semirhage, was this because of his link to Moridin? Or did the Dark One directly give Rand access in order to taint him via use of the TP? Or is it something we don't know yet? Semirhage freaks out and says "Great Lord, why have you betrayed me?" and certainly I think the Dark One would be happy to sacrifice her if he thought it would drive the Dragon to the dark side (which seems to be more important than having rand under an a'dam) but she could have been mistaken. Thoughts?

It isn't conclusively stated anywhere whether or not he had the DO's permission. Personally, I think he didn't have it, and it was solely through his link to Moridin that Rand gained access. Here's a quote from Sanderson:

Driving Mr. Sanderson (from Half Moon Bay to San Jose), 21 November 2009 - Matt Hatch reporting

Matt: There was some confusion about Rand and the Dark One’s permission, so for clarification’s sake, did Rand have the Dark One’s permission to use the True Power?

Brandon: I have not answered that. If anyone says that I have, I have not. What I have said specifically is, this is recording: generally one must have the Dark One’s permission to use the True Power. Semirhage believed that the Dark One had betrayed her by letting Rand use it.

 

Quote Link

(Underlines added) While BS doesn't come out and say one way or the other, he seems to be strongly implying that "generally" one must have permission, but Rand didn't, and that while Semi "believed" the DO betrayed her, the DO wasn't really involved in the matter, it was simply the Moridin-Rand link.

A bit like Mat's over-enthusiatic jesting, I suspect this was a bit of Brandon going a bit too far with a characters personality traits in portraying them.

Other people noticed that too? I thought I was the only one- I kept hearing about how people loved the Mat segments in BS's books so much and thought that they were RJ's writing etc... And even more so than Mat, Talmanes! Talmanes was always a dry humor, subtle twinkle in the eye kind of guy who in the BS books turns into a very overtly joker-ish guy. Where went the subtlety?? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Sanderson's work and all he's done to make this happen but his portrayal of certain characters is about as blunt as a hammerhead.

It would be some time before I read Towers of Midnight. Waiting for the paperback version.

 

Like I implied in most recent post, the chapter reference seems wrong.

 

I was actually asking for the passages of both exits and/or of both enterings; not necessarily whole chapter/chapters.

Here's the quote, the first line is the one herid quoted, from the beginning of Ch.48 which is right after her 1st trip into the pillars:

Aviendha took one final step and was out of the forest of glass pillars.¹

[...]

She stepped up to the nearest glass pillar, careful not to pass inside the ring. If she touched one of the rods, perhaps her Talent would let her read something about them. It was dangerous to experiment with ter'angreal, but she had already passed their challenge and was unscathed. Hesitantly, she reached out and laid fingers on the slick, glassy surface. It was about a foot thick. She closed her eyes, trying to read the pillar's function.

 

She sensed the powerful aura of the pillar. It was far more potent than any of the ter'angreal she had handled with Elayne. Indeed, the pillars seemed... alive, somehow. It was almost as if she could sense an awareness from them. That gave her a chill. Was she touching the pillar, or was it touching her? She tried to read ter'angreal as she had done before, but this one was vast. Incomprehensible, like the One Power itself. She inhaled sharply, disoriented by the weight of what she felt. It was as if she had suddenly fallen into a deep, dark pit.

 

She snapped her eyes open, pulling her hand away, palm quivering. This was beyond her. She was an insect, ttying to grasp the size and mass of a mountain. She took a breath to steady herself, then shook her head. There was nothing more to be done here. She turned from the glass pillars and took a step.²

-

She was Malidra, eighteen but scrawny enough to appear much younger.

[...]

Those pillars were a challenge, as sure as an enemy warrior with his spear in hand. If she passed into their midst again, she might never come out; nobody visited this ter'angreal a second time. It was forbidden. One trip through the rings, one through the columns. But she had come seeking knowledge. She would not leave without it. She turned and—taking a deep breath—walked up to the pillars. Then took a step.

[...]

She wished she'd never stepped back into the forest of pillars.

[...]

There had to be more. Angry, she stood up and took another step. Nothing happened. She walked all the way to the edge of the pillars, then turned, furious. "Show me more," she demanded. "Show me what I did to cause this! It is my lineage that brought us ruin! What is my part in it?" She walked into the pillars again.³ Nothing. They seemed dead. She reached out and touched one, but there was no life. No hum, no sense of Power.

If you don't want to read the whole thing, just look at the bolded text, it shows that she did in fact pass through more than once. As we can see, she makes the first trip and walks out[¹], enters again[²], sees different visions, and after coming out the 2nd time, walks in again a third time[³], but the third time the pillars don't work.

EDIT:

As for the original question:

Could Rand go through the glass column once more now that the time-direction of the vision has been changed?

 

EDIT : I forgot that Aviendha went there twice... So I suppose Rand could too. Wouldn't it be a good idea for him to go?

I'd say the columns are now broken and/or dead. Avi's first observation, before she walked through a 2nd time: "She sensed the powerful aura of the pillar. It was far more potent than any of the ter'angreal she had handled with Elayne." Compare that to the final line in the above quote- "[...]there was no life. No hum, no sense of Power." I believe her "reprogramming" made them do something they may not have been made to do, tell the future instead of the past, so it could have fried them.

she is supposed to be the oldest among the Wise Ones of which there are thousands. most of them are channelers and every single one is stronger than her in the power. why aren't there hundreds of Wise Ones which are 400 or 500 years old?

how is Slowing affected by OP usage? I'm pretty sure if you don't use it at all(if you're not a sparker) then it doesn't occur at all, but is it also that if you barely use it you Slow less? That would explain the WO's not being that old since they don't really rely on the OP much at all- recent circumstances have started changing that but I wouldn't be surprised if a standard channeling WO didn't use the OP more than once a week or even month in the past.

When we first meet Ishamael in Rand's dream, he has a normal face, but sometimes would flash to having fire eyes & mouth. I've attributed that to him not holding his form in the Dream, similar to when Egwene can't hold her clothes in a single form, but I've also heard that this was attributed to too much use of the True Power.

 

Which is "right"?

Both. In reality he has eyes and mouth of fire, in dreams he sometimes switches between his original eyes/mouth and his TP induced flame eyes/mouth.

We however did not get a clear indication of Rand channeling when he does it immediately after leaving Shadar Logath. Rand boards Domon's ship, but he gets knocked down by a trolloc and the wind is knocked out of him. Right as he's about to die he instinctively lashes out with Saidin and uses part of the ship to knock the trolloc into the river.

 

Were trollocs and Fain even in the city at the time of the incident? It's not until hours after the boys return, enough time for some sleep at least, that trollocs are reported in the city by Lan.

You're right about the boat incident where the boom knocks the Trolloc over, there really isn't any conclusive evidence pointing to him using the Power, if he hadn't gotten Power-crazy and climbed the mast a few days later I would've argued he didn't even use the Power during the attack.

As for the timing with the trollocs/Fain, we know that Lan's been out scouting since way before the boys returned[^1,2] and he wouldn't return without a thorough scan of the area and the enemy forces(he even brings back the badges for each fist[³], for which he must have killed some Trollocs).

"You wool-headed witlings!" the Wisdom snapped. She bristled from head to foot; her eyes glittered, and bright spots of red burned on her cheeks. "Why under the Light did you run off like that? Are you all right? Have you no sense at all? Lan is out looking for you now¹, and you'll be luckier than you deserve if he does not pound some sense into the lot of you when he gets back."

-

"[Lan] has been gone a long time."² Nynaeve looked worriedly at the night outside. Full dark had fallen, as black as pitch.

-

Suddenly the Warder trotted silently out of the darkness into the room. Moiraine came awake and sat up as if he had rung a bell. Lan opened his hand; three small objects fell to the tiles in front of her with the clink of iron. Three blood-red badges in the shape of horned skulls.³

My point is that we don't know the exact timing of the trollocs entering the city, they could have been inside and searching for a while now- it's mentioned multiple times how large SL is.

Now wait, I don't think Mashadar came out until well after Mordeth's scream, so how would that work chronologically?

Hmm... Darn it kraefzke, it was all making sense for a bit there... Ignorance was indeed bliss

You make a good point though. The sun was still up when the boys were down there with Mordeth so Mashadar was probably not out yet(although later in the series it starts showing during the day too right? is the battle with Sammael in SL with the sun up or down?). Anyway, I still think it's more likely that Fain and Mordeth somehow clashed(even if not via Mashadar), maybe by Fain picking up something in the city or simply by entering? At least it's more likely in comparison to Mat doing something with the dagger or Rand channeling. But that's just my opinion.

Next question - define "ample bosom." C cup, D, DD?

 

Has it been pointed out the RJ spends a great deal of time describing women's chests and their bathing habits? Every section from Elain'e POV involves at lest one bath with bare bosom's, often with several naked women lounging around. And now, halfway through KoD, I have to read about Elain's "tender" bosom and possible swelling. I just want trollocs and Mydraal and Ashaman kicking ass and Matt leading his Band in battle...

Some people appreciate bosoms in all their majesty, be they ample, bare, tender, or all of the above...

My guess would be of that being when Fain & Mordeth met.

I considered that as a possibility... just didn't have any proof to support it. Until now. After reading what you said I looked into the matter more carefully and here's what I found:

Padan Fain stared northward out into the night, past the only fire in his camp, smiling a fixed smile that never touched his eyes. He still thought of himself as Padan Fain - Padan Fain was the core of him - but he had been changed, and he knew it. He knew many things, now, more than any of his old masters could suspect. He had been a Darkfriend long years before Ba'alzamon summoned him and set him on the track of the three young men from mond's Field, distilling what he knew of them, distilling him, and feeding the essence back so that he could feel them, smell where they had been, follow wherever they ran. Especially the one. A part of him still cringed, remembering what Ba'alzamon had done to him, but it was a small part, hidden, suppressed. He was changed. Following the three had led him into Shadar Logoth. He had not wanted to go, but he had had to obey. Then. And in Shadar Logoth...¹

 

Fain drew a deep breath and fingered the ruby-hilted dagger at his belt. That had come from Shadar Logoth, too. It was the only weapon he carried, the only one he needed; it felt like a part of him. He was whole within himself, now. That was all that mattered.

¹ Here I found what I was looking for. I hadn't realized that there was evidence of Fain encountering Mordeth before getting the ruby hilted dagger but then voila, I came upon this. What happened in Shadar Logoth? We get a hint here:

"It was evil against evil in the ruins of Shadar Logoth," Moiraine continued, "foul fighting vile. When Fain spoke of it, his teeth chattered and he whimpered. Many Trollocs were slain, consumed by Mashadar and other things, including the Trolloc that held Fain's leash.² He fled the city as if it were the Pit of Doom, at Shayol Ghul.

² We find that the very Trolloc that held Fain's leash was consumed by Mashadar! And so the pieces of the puzzle come together. When Mashadar finished with that Trolloc and touched Fain- BAM. Enter Mordeth's "agonized scream" after which he cowers in the corner. Mashadar's evil clashed with Fain's DO distilled essence and hurt Mordeth(and I assume Fain as well) badly since they are opposite evils(^3,4):

DragonCon 3 September 2005 - Emma reporting

Q: How did Aginor sense the Shadar Logoth dagger?

RJ: If you remember the Cleansing[...] It is an effect of resonance. The evil that taints the dagger is the same evil that taints Shadar Logoth, and you might say it is diametrically opposite³ to the evil that is the taint on the male half of the One Power. Rand at one point in Shadar Logoth... he feels a pulsing, especially in the wounds on his side. There is a resonance created there; it is like positive and negative poles of evil⁴, you might say.

 

Quote Link

Thanks for posting that mb- before this I had just backhandedly dismissed that option without truly considering it but because of your post I went back and reexamined that possibility and was actually able to find good evidence to support it.

I don't think Rand channeled here. The first time he channeled was when he was urging Bela to run faster when carrying Egwene away from the trollocs. He desperately WISHED for something and it happened. Here, there was no need, no expression of a desire for something to happen.

 

When Mordeth screamed, it must have been when Mat clutched the dagger. But Mordeth's line is curious as well. What has been decided?

 

Mat panting is also curious, I think. It is entirely possible that Mat stabbed him as a reaction to Mordeth's swelling, but I doubt it. Mordeth may have known that Mat would carry him out of Aridhol, but that is also unlikely.

 

It must have been Moiraine's Ward. He was backing away from them, retreating into the darkest corner of the room, possibly away from the Ward. Could she have also placed a Ward on the boys themselves?

I agree that Rand channeling is probably not it since when he did it for Bela we get a clear indication of it:

If Bela fell back, he would fall back, too, whatever Moiraine and Lan had to say about it. Back where the Fade and the Trollocs were. Back where the Draghkar was. With all his heart and desperation he silently shouted at Bela to run like the wind, silently tried to will strength into her. Run! His skin prickled, and his bones felt as if they were freezing, ready to split open. The Light help her, run! And Bela ran.

As to your question regarding it being "decided," that's a good question- I think it's simply decided that he'll just kill/corrupt the three of them right there instead of letting them escape since he can't consume their souls and escape via the tainted treasure being carried out of Shadar Logoth:

"If ever he convinces someone to accompany him to the walls, to the boundary of Mashadar's power, he will be able to consume the soul of that person. Mordeth will leave, wearing the body of the one he worse than killed, to wreak his evil on the world again."

Lastly, I also don't think it was Moiraine's ward because the three feel the "watching eyes" vanish the moment they enter it later and they would never have felt the menacing watchers if they had already been warded:

At last, with twilight falling, they came in sight of the white stone building they had left what seemed like days ago. Suddenly the watching eyes departed. Between one step and the next, they vanished in a blink.

Also I would think Moiraine would need to be close, if not have physical contact with them, to weave such a ward for the three of them specifically instead of for a location.

Note: I tried searching for this in the quote database at Theoryland but didn't find anything besides the Fain/Mordeth link stuff that permeates the threads in these forums as well. A search through this forum for this didn't give me what I was looking for either although admittedly I didn't look further than 2 pages of search result threads back, way too much for me to look through it all. Lastly, the reason I posted this here and not in the Simple Questions thread is because the question/answer may or may not be simple depending on if I'm a blind fool or if this truly is an unsolved mystery.

Something I noticed on my curent reread:

Suddenly Rand realized what had been nagging at him about the man. The scattered torches in the hallway had given each of them a ring of shadows, just as the torches in the treasure room did. Only . . . He was so shocked he said it out loud. "You don't have a shadow." A goblet fell from Mat's hand with a crash. Mordeth nodded, and for the first time his fleshy eyelids opened all the way. His sleek face suddenly appeared pinched and hungry. "So." He stood straighter, seeming taller. "It is decided." Abruptly there was no seeming to it. Like a balloon Mordeth swelled, distorted, head pressed against the ceiling, shoulders butting the walls, filling the end of the room, cutting off escape. Hollow-cheeked, teeth bared in a rictus snarl, he reached out with hands big enough to engulf a man's head.

 

With a yell Rand leaped back. His feet tangled in a gold chain, and he crashed to the floor, the wind knocked out of him. Struggling for breath, he struggled at the same time for his sword, fighting his cloak, which had become wrapped around the hilt. The yells of his friends filled the room, and the clash of goldplatters and goblets clattering across the floor. Suddenly an agonized scream shivered in Rand's ears. Almost sobbing, he managed to inhale at last, just as he got the sword out of its sheath. Cautiously, he got to his feet, wondering which of his friends had given that scream. Perrin looked back at him wide-eyed from across the room, crouched and holding his axe back as if about to chop down a tree. Mat peered around the side of a treasure pile, clutching a dagger snatched from the trove. Something moved in the deepest part of the shadows left by the torches, and they all jumped. It was Mordeth, clutching his knees to his chest and huddled as deep into the furthest comer as he could get.

 

"He tricked us," Mat panted. "It was some kind of trick." Mordeth threw back his head and wailed; dust sifted down as the walls trembled. "You are all dead!" he cried. "All dead!" And he leaped up, diving across the room. Rand's jaw dropped, and he almost dropped the sword as well. As Mordeth dove through the air, he stretched out and thinned, like a tendril of smoke. As thin as a finger he struck a crack in the wall tiles and vanished into it. A last cry hung in the room as he vanished, fading slowly away after he was gone. "You are all dead!"

I've bolded the text where Mordeth suddenly screams(I assume it's his scream) and then cowers in the corner because of something that happened. Now there are only two things that I can think of that might have caused this and neither seems a satisfactory explanation:

1) Mat slashed at him (underlined text) with the dagger- but why would Mordeth's own dagger hurt him?

2) Moiraine at that moment errected the ward around the building the party is camping in- why would a locally set ward hurt Mordeth so much, or at all for that matter?

I'm sorry if I'm missing something incredibly obvious, I've definitely seen threads like that before, so if I am, will somebody please explain? If not, is there a theory as to what caused this?

Maybe they played quidditch...

On that note, is there a word for a WoT "Muggle"? I feel there really ought to be. Also what are users of the OP called? Channelers doesn't seem clear enough...

Hope I'm not simply blanking on the super-obvious, forgive this fool if he is.